In keeping with recent initiatives by Commercial Radio Australia, ARN is taking a proactive approach to educating the advertising industry about effectively using radio ‘creative’.
At its recent creative conference, which it themed “The Kitchen 04”, the Australian Radio Network brought together network and agency writers, producers, creative directors and clients with the aim of tackling the barriers facing commercial radio creative teams within the advertising industry.
ARN Group Creative Director Shaun Fay told radioinfo “internal creative teams are not being recognised by external advertising partners.”
“We looked at how creative teams can improve their reputation generally within the advertising industry and ways of promoting the effectiveness of the internal creative process… There are a lot people in the advertising industry who do not understand the role of internal creative teams at stations and, as a result, are not utilising their talent in the advertising process.
“We have extremely talented people in our internal creative team at ARN with valuable knowledge and experience to offer our clients. We recognise their value and are working to build their reputation in the industry.
“Two of our clients, Commonwealth Bank and Unilever, also attended The Kitchen, providing valuable insight into companies’ approach to, and expectations of, radio advertising.”
At the conference, held two weeks ago, participants explored how to overcome creative challenges and together designed strategies to help move the creative team up the ladder of recognition within the advertising industry.
Guest speakers at the conference included New Zealand creative guru, Len Potts, the only Australasian person to be inducted into the Clio Hall of Fame and ARN Group Program Director, Jeremy Millar.
Jeremy Millar considers himself a big fan of radio as a creative media:
“I sometimes think the ‘C’ in ‘CRA’ is a reminder that we’re also proud of our creative team.”
The conference was named ‘The Kitchen 04’ to highlight an analogy where the sales reps are the Maitre Des, the on-air staff the waiters and the creative team are the cooks.
The conference follows CRA’s push in fostering creative momentum within the radio industry.